# Me first! Me first! Which board game has the strangest rule for who goes first? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Tags:** board-card-word-game\ **Created:** [August 10, 2026, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272 "2026-08-10T16:28:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/21 "2026-08-11T18:48:34Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It should be noted that, even if everyone at the table poops with the same frequency, this will still consistently favor some players over others. True, but IIRC going first is not a big advantage in Cards Against Humanity. I remember one where the _owner of the game goes first,_ so that would nearly always be the same person. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/22 "2026-08-11T18:52:51Z")
The idea of “who goes first” in board games reminded me of the coin toss in football (soccer) matches. When I first became a referee, I put too much emphasis on getting the coin toss right. At the highest levels of the game, it’s important to follow the proscribed procedure, but at recreational/amateur levels, it’s really not that important. Towards the end of my refereeing career, if I didn’t have a coin to toss, I would frequently have the captains play rock/paper/scissors to determine field and possession. It really doesn’t matter! ---
**Author:** ![HeyHomie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heyhomie/32/207_2.png) [@HeyHomie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HeyHomie)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/23 "2026-08-11T18:53:39Z")
For a casual game of **chess** , I’ve always played where a player puts a white pawn in one hand, the black pawn in the other, the other player picks left or right, and plays with that color of pieces. For a tournament I imagine it’s some combination of random draw, the application of a computer program, and/or a committee talking things over. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/24 "2026-08-11T18:59:13Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I remember one where the _owner of the game goes first,_ so that would nearly always be the same person. Flying Buffalo’s _Nuclear War_ had this rule, and it could make for a significant advantage, as each player had to commit to a sequence of playing cards two turns in advance of them coming into effect ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/25 "2026-08-11T20:09:11Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > _Forest Shuffle_: The player who most recently took a walk in a forest goes first. So, not a great game to play while camping, then? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2026, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/26 "2026-08-12T00:17:22Z")
Only a few km, but I don’t go into religious institutions any more. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2026, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/27 "2026-08-12T03:27:42Z")
A thread on these at BGG: [https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/40494/idiotic-starting-player-rules](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/40494/idiotic-starting-player-rules) I just go with Chwazi. ---
**Author:** ![N9IWP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/n9iwp/32/3154_2.png) [@N9IWP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/N9IWP)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2026, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/28 "2026-08-12T11:30:34Z")
I knew there was at least one BGG thread on this – thanks for finding it. Brian ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/29 "2026-08-13T14:03:24Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > The game revolves around bears, hawks, salmon, foxes, and elk, and whoever most recently saw one of these animals goes first. Hawks are so much more commonly seen than the other animals on that list that including the others seems redundant. They’re common enough that you’d often end up with three players saying “yesterday”, followed by “Uh, about 4 PM, I guess?”. > [@HeyHomie](#): > > For a tournament I imagine it’s some combination of random draw, the application of a computer program, and/or a committee talking things over. Maybe for the order of games, but typically in a chess tournament each pair of players plays an even number of games against each other, each taking white (and hence going first) an equal number of times. This is because, on the one hand, going first is a strong advantage in chess, and on the other hand, draws are common, so an odd number of games aren’t significantly less likely to be a tie than an even number. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/30 "2026-08-13T14:16:56Z")
Unconscious Mind, a game about the invention of psychiatry in 19th century Vienna, instructs players that “ The player who most recently made a Freudian slip is first player (or you may pick by a mother method).” ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/31 "2026-08-13T14:19:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Hawks are so much more commonly seen than the other animals on that list that including the others seems redundant. They’re common enough that you’d often end up with three players saying “yesterday”, followed by “Uh, about 4 PM, I guess?”. That is of course how it usually goes. It’s a cute mechanic, but unless someone had a bagel & lox for lunch, it’s all about the hawks. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/32 "2026-08-13T21:30:41Z")
> [@HeyHomie](#): > > For a casual game of **chess** , I’ve always played where a player puts a white pawn in one hand, the black pawn in the other, the other player picks left or right, and plays with that color of pieces. For a tournament I imagine it’s some combination of random draw, the application of a computer program, and/or a committee talking things over. Yes, the ‘two pawn’ method for casual games has been around for ages. In a tournament, the players are seeded by rating, then the top half play the bottom half with alternating colours. You can toss a coin to decide if the top seed gets White or Black in round 1. So a club event with 12 players could start with (first number gets White): 1 v 7 8 v 2 3 v 9 10 v 4 5 v 11 12 v 6 There are computer programs that will do the draw for each round for you. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/33 "2026-08-13T21:34:39Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > typically in a chess tournament each pair of players plays an even number of games against each other, each taking white (and hence going first) an equal number of times. Um, I’ve never seen this (and I’ve played in club, regional, national and international events.) In my experience each player only plays once against another player in a round - and then in future rounds is never paired against any player they have already played. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/34 "2026-08-13T21:40:08Z")
Ah, I will certainly defer to your experience. What I described might just be for championship challenges. ---
**Author:** ![batsto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@batsto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/batsto)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/35 "2026-08-13T21:47:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I can’t remember the games, but I’ve seen “the player whose birthday is next” and “the youngest player”. > > But these other ones are definitely weirder. This may have been the Mad magazine game. I recall something like that, though it’s been a few years so I may be misremembering. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/36 "2026-08-13T23:22:22Z")
> [@batsto](#): > > This may have been the Mad magazine game. I recall something like that, though it’s been a few years so I may be misremembering. Mad also had a “Spy vs. Spy”-themed version of War whose instructions began: > Two players should be divided into teams. To ensure interesting and exciting gameplay, we suggest one player be on each team. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/37 "2026-08-14T23:31:13Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > That is of course how it usually goes. It’s a cute mechanic, but unless someone had a bagel & lox for lunch, it’s all about the hawks. I’ve never seen a hawk. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/38 "2026-08-14T23:39:48Z")
In the 1978 board game Class Struggle, the capitalist always goes first, but players roll a die to determine which class they play: capitalist, worker, professional, farmer, small business owner, or student. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/39 "2026-08-15T00:07:11Z")
Any birds of prey at all, in the Middle East? Around here, most of them fall under the broad umbrella of “hawks”. And have you ever seen a bear, salmon, fox, or elk? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272/40 "2026-08-15T07:26:14Z")
I’m a city kid, so it’s not like I see raptors on a daily basis. Still, I do get out to nature on occasion, and over the years I’ve seen golden eagles, snake eagles, griffon vultures, buzzards and kites, but no hawks. Most actual hawks here are just passing through on their way to Africa for the winter. As for other animals, I’ve seen jackals (which do in fact live in or near the city, occupying the same niche coyotes fill in much of the US), wild boars, and ibex. I did see a bear once in the wild - on the Blue Ridge Mountains, in Virginia. One of the greatest thrills of my life. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/me-first-me-first-which-board-game-has-the-strangest-rule-for-who-goes-first/1032272.md?page=3)